Position Papers & Articles

Changing Attitude Ireland's archive of position papers and other writing, with most recent texts appearing first. For an overview of all newsletters on one page, visit the Position Papers & Articles sitemap page.

Homosexuality and the Bible

Walter Wink, is Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary and Hartford Seminary, and has been a visiting professor at Columbia and Drew universities. In 1989-1990 he was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. Dr. Wink is a United Methodist minister, works for a Presbyterian seminary, and attends Quaker meeting. For five years he served as pastor of a church in southeast Texas. [Continue Reading]

Report: LGBT Communities’ Experiences of Faith and Church in Northern Ireland

Irish Peace Centers

This is the seventh paper in the IPC Experiential Learning series and it contains the personal stories of up to 20 members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community who responded to a public call from Irish Peace Centres for stories. The paper is a conversation about diversity and a conversation which wider society frequently finds difficult to engage in. It should be read with care and the respect that any first person reflection deserves. I salute the commitment and courage of the respondents who told their stories for the purpose of investing an often controversial discussion with real life stories of their faith, their life and their hopes. [Continue Reading]

Methodist Church in Ireland Pastoral Care document on Homosexuality, June 2011

The Conference adopts the following Pastoral Guidelines regarding homosexuality. [Continue Reading]

Christians and gays in Northern Ireland: how the ethno-religious context has shaped Christian anti-gay and pro-gay activism

By Richard O’Leary, published in Contemporary Christianity and LGBT Sexualities, Editor: Stephen Hunt (Ashgate, 2009) [Continue Reading]

CAI response to “Don’t Throw Stones” initiative

In response to the Anglican Communion Initiative ‘Don’t Throw Stones’ Changing Attitude Ireland is pleased to offer a meeting around the theme: “Faith and Sexual Orientation: A Conversation of Engagement, Dialogue and Respect” [Continue Reading]

Methodist Council on Social Responsibility statement on human sexuality

[gview file=”https://changingattitudeireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/20090000-Methodist-CSR-Homophobia.pdf”]

Submission made by Changing Attitude Ireland to the Hard Gospel Committee

The Revd. Mervyn Kingston (Secretary of CAI) explained to the Hard Gospel Committee that Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI) is an all-Ireland network of Christian persons, gay and straight, lay and ordained, working for the full affirmation of gay and lesbian persons in the Church of Ireland. The Revd. Kingston advised that CAI articulates a liberal perspective on gay and lesbian inclusion, a perspective which he believes is shared by a substantial and growing proportion of persons in the Church of Ireland from lay people to Bishops, but which because of the sensitivity around this issue in Ireland, was largely only expressed publicly by courageous individuals until the formation of Changing Attitude Ireland. [Continue Reading]

Gay Clergy Count: Visibility and Listening in the Church of Ireland

By Mervyn Kingston, Search – A Church of Ireland Journal, Vol.31 Number 2. Summer 2008

How many gays and lesbians do you know? The reality is that gays and lesbians are to be found in every family, church and denomination. Look around and it will not be long before you see a gay son, daughter, brother, sister, aunt or uncle, nephew or niece, cousin or close friend. We all have them, but it is just that we may not know about them. If we are to be a truly open and inclusive church, then we need to find ways to welcome by our words and actions those who are often made to feel marginalised and isolated. [Continue Reading]

Does the Bible tell us so? Homosexuality and Scripture

By Roger Juline, Science of Mind

[Continue Reading]

Pastoral Guidelines – Homosexuality

While a person’s sexuality is a very important part of their lives, it does not define who they are. Biblically we as a church maintain that a person is defined in the first instance in terms of their relationship to God – creation in relation to Creator. To refer to a person as a homosexual, a lesbian or a heterosexual is therefore to narrow their identity to their sexuality alone. For this reason it seems better to refer to ‘people’ who have ‘same sex attraction’. [Continue Reading]